Sunday, March 31, 2013

Has anyone out there trimmed .357 cases down to .38 Special length? It seems like a PTA but if we run short of .38 Special cases (which we might) and have a surplus of .357 (which we do) I'm just wondering if that is a viable option. Anybody have experience with that?

They were Britain’s ‘secret army’, courageous volunteers prepared to sacrifice their lives to fight against a Nazi invasion of the UK.

Issued with top-secret orders, their role has remained unsung for decades. But now the undercover resistance units Churchill planned to activate in the event of a German invasion during the Second World War are at last to be honoured.

The Royal British Legion has agreed to officially recognise the 4,000 volunteers who once formed the secret guerrilla cells created to resist the Nazis. And for the first time, former members are to parade with other veterans at this year’s Remembrance Day ceremonies at the Cenotaph.

If wartime church bells rang to warn of enemy invasion, the orders for the Auxiliary Unit volunteers were to disappear without telling anyone and to report to hidden bases in the countryside.

Each was issued with sealed orders giving a list of potential collaborators, some as senior as county chief constables, who might have to be executed if there was a risk of them helping the Germans.

Most of the volunteers worked in the countryside and were chosen for their knowledge of the local area and ability to use a weapon.

Trained at Coleshill, in Oxfordshire, they operated in tight groups and their role was to disrupt and destroy the enemy’s supply chain, kill collaborators and take out strategic targets. Unable to tell anyone about their activities, they disguised their real mission by pretending to belong to the Home Guard.

Tom Sykes, of the Coleshill Auxiliary Research Team, which has campaigned for the men to be honoured, is delighted by the RBL’s decision. ‘Many of these veterans were in reserved occupations and could not join the regular Forces,’ he said. ‘But when the call came, they did not hesitate to join what would have been a suicide mission to confront the enemy.

‘They were taught cutting-edge guerrilla warfare and even used Thompson sub-machine guns before they were given to the British Army.

‘But they were sworn to secrecy and sadly suffered taunts and were sent white feathers by people who thought they were cowards for not fighting. . .

Trevor Miners, 86, from Perranporth, Cornwall, joined an Auxiliary Unit at 16. He says: ‘Our base was in an old mineshaft at a local farm. We learned to make booby traps and explosives, and how to blow up fuel dumps. We learned unarmed combat and we had all sorts of weapons. No one knew the secret army existed.’

I spent my morning over at a friend's house using his Lee turret press to reload .38s with 158 grain lead semi-wadcutters. (We don't have the Dillon RL-1050 components to run .38s on it. They are bloody expensive.) As I mentioned before, I sold my .38 to pay some bills recently, but since we have the components I figured that loaded rounds were a better investment for the future. The only problem was that after almost 250 rounds, the powder hopper on the Lee FELL OFF.

This is apparently a congenital weakness of this version of the Lee press, and fortunately my buddy had a pro version of the powder measure and hopper that is much more robust. (Pictured below.)

We finished up the run of 500 for my son Matt.

.38 Special 158 grain SWCs loaded in ammo box inserts scrounged from range trash barrels. I take these and put them in baggies, tape them to form fit with a tag indicating what they are, and store them in GI ammo cans and crates just like the .45s we ran last month.

My buddy then cast up about ten pounds of 158 grain leads for himself, which we will load later.

A bill is heading to Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper’s desk that Republican lawmakers say would give members of the Secret Service broad arrest powers in the state and could provide a framework for federal agents eventually to enforce gun restrictions.

“This is absolutely insane,” Rep. Lori Saine, R-Dacono, said. “In theory if a Secret Service agent is in a county where the sheriff has refused to enforce some of the recent unenforceable gun laws, the agent could arrest an individual if he believes the law has been broken.”

The Secret Service employs approximately 3,200 special agents, 1,300 Uniformed Division officers, and more than 2,000 other technical, professional and administrative support personnel.

My Uncle Bill killed bunches of German arschlochs wearing this scary patch. They died just as dead as their Fuhrer.

My observation: Why don't these citizen disarmament Colorado puke politicians threaten us with something we're scared of? In the event of civil war, the much-vaunted Secret Service (at least that part of it that ignores their oaths to the Constitution) would:

A. Be so busy protecting green-zoned politicians they wouldn't have time and personnel for anything else, and,

B. Their entire pitiful complement would represent less than a week's worth of casualties. After that, no more SS raid parties, in Colorado or anywhere else.

The question is, how many of these new SS wish to live to see retirement in that event?

One day, I suspect, Holder will be called to account for his long career of criminality under color of law. Perhaps he will revise his opinion of people he doesn't respect then. If he is given the time for reflection, that is.

Law enforcement intelligence-processing fusion centers have long come under attack for spying on Americans. The Arkansas director wanted to clarify the truth: centers only spies on some Americans – those who appear to be a threat to the government.

In trying to clear up the ‘misconceptions’ about the conduct of fusion centers, Arkansas State Fusion Center Director Richard Davis simply confirmed Americans’ fears: the center does in fact spy on Americans – but only on those who are suspected to be ‘anti-government’.

“The misconceptions are that we are conducting spying operations on US citizens, which is of course not a fact. That is absolutely not what we do,” he told the NWA Homepage, which supports KNWA-TV and Fox 24.

After claiming that his office ‘absolutely’ does not spy on Americans, he proceeded to explain that this does not apply to those who could be interpreted as a ‘threat’ to national security. Davis said his office places its focus on international plots, “domestic terrorism and certain groups that are anti-government. We want to kind of take a look at that and receive that information.”

This article reminded me of a book I've been meaning to get:
Stalin’s Last Crime and the ironic fate that "cosmopolitan" (non-religious) Jewish supporters of the Leninist-Stalinist regime suffered. It is a cautionary tale for modern "cosmopolitans" like Schumer and Feinstein.

During the period 1945 to 1947, overt anti-Semitism was suppressed in the USSR. Why? Firstly, because Stalin was considered the savior of the Jews, the man who defeated Hitler and had liberated the Eastern European concentration camps from the Nazis. Moreover, during those years Stalin needed the Jews for propaganda purposes. Secondly, many of the old Bolsheviks were Jewish, Leon Trotsky, Lev Kamenev, Gregory Zinoviev, Lazar Kaganovich, Maxim Litvinov, Yakov Sverdlov, Polina Zhemchuzhina (the wife of Molotov), etc. Jewish communists, such as the legendary founder of the Cheka, Felix Dzerzhinsky, and his successors, Abram Slutsky, Sergei Shpigelglas, and Genrikh Yagoda, had led the intelligence and security organs of the Bolsheviks and subsequently the Soviet state. And there were still many Jewish cadres in the cultural organs, the Party, the intelligence services, and the security apparatus. Thirdly, Stalin had initially supported the creation of the Jewish state of Israel.

But then in the fall of 1948 Golda Meir visited the Soviet Union. Russian Jews had been too festive, too enthusiastic, and had shown too much admiration for the Israeli Prime Minister! The U.S. and Israel also seemed to be developing closer ties of friendship and cooperation. Many Jews in Russia had families and acquaintances in the U.S. and the West. And then there was the matter of the Jewish Antifascist Committee (JAC). Many of its “cosmopolitan” members had traveled extensively outside the USSR, and the vozhd (“the great leader”) had become suspicious of this as well!

So by 1948, Stalin had become convinced that Israel and Jewish internationalists, including Russian Jews, were a threat to the Soviet State. He cautiously began his anti-cosmopolitanism campaign that soon developed a life of its own in Mother Russia, the land of pogroms and antisemitism.

Suddenly, all Jews were potential traitors, enemies of the Soviet state, spies in the service of American and British Intelligence. . .

But individual Jews -- apostate or not -- were the least of Sralin's intended victims for the book describes a planned Soviet Jewish Holocaust in 1953 that was only short-circuited by Stalin's death.

Stalin wanted not only to eliminate potential political opponents, but more grandiosely, to replicate the times of the great purges and the Red Terror, the terrible days of the 1930s. He needed to arouse the stagnant Soviet nation to action, the surveillance, and the terror, the “unmasking “of ”wreckers, spies, and saboteurs,” while exercising further his already absolute power. Stalin abided by the old revolutionary precept of Nikolai Chernyshevsky, subscribed to by Lenin himself: The worse the conditions of the people, the better. And illegitimate power can only be preserved in a climate of such fear and terror, in an atmosphere of perpetual crisis in which an autocrat must exert his iron hand of order and eliminate the real or imagined “enemies of the people.”

Stalin was a master at creating such terrible conditions for the exertion, potentiation, and perpetuation of power. Fortunately for some of the doctors, the world, and the Russian people (although most of them did not appreciate it then) — it was the vozhd, who had run out of time! He was, after all, mortal. In the end, only Stalin’s death on March 5, 1953 saved the doctors, the Jews, and possibly the world from an impending holocaust — and even a third World War!

Obama can either choose to join Bloomberg in the squeeze play on Senate Democrats, thereby risking the rest of his agenda, or he can retreat again into vast clouds of words, signaling that he’s more interested in passing something that can be called gun control than in passing gun control itself.

With his approval ratings on the slide, the nation growing more pessimistic and the prospect of an all-Republican Congress now a reality, the latter looks more likely.

Thus far, the new OFA, claiming 4 million volunteers, is suffering some startup challenges.

Obama campaign volunteer Herman Galut, a freelance reporter, held a gun policy discussion last week at his apartment in Alexandria, Virginia. It was advertised through OFA’s events page. Two people attended.

They talked for an hour about how to garner support for gun-control legislation, deciding they needed to contact senators to press for support and perhaps write letters to the editors of local newspapers. Neither of the two women who attended considered themselves OFA members, though both had volunteered for the president’s re-election.

“They send me e-mails saying, ‘Don’t you want to keep giving us money?’” said Anne Haynes, a health educator. “And I wrote them back saying, ‘No!’”

“Maybe we can work with them without being officially part of them,” suggested Mary Abahazy, who is unemployed. “I guess I’m just not really sure what OFA is.”

In addition, the lawmakers they are trying to prod into support for gun legislation say they aren’t hearing much from the group.

“Members need to know that their constituents will stand with them,” said Representative Mike Thompson of California. He said one of his California colleagues -- he declined to identify which one -- won’t put his name on the bill even with polls showing 96 percent support from his district.

“He told me,” Thompson said, “‘I’m just not getting any calls on this.’”

Kenneth Lerer, a New York businessman who is chairman of Buzzfeed.com, and David Bohnett, a technology entrepreneur and philanthopist based in Los Angeles, are both major financial supporters of Democratic candidates, having each given scores of large contributions over the years. They are both key players in the political fundraising world and wield influence among other donors and fundraisers.

Neither will give another dime to any Senate Democrat who does not support expanded background checks, I’m told — and both will suggest to other donors that they do the same. The move underscores the rising importance of gun control as an issue in Democratic politics — and the rising frustration in some Democratic circles with elected officials who continue to regard gun politics as a third rail, at a moment that presents a real opportunity to achieve serious reform, with a policy that enjoys near universal public support.

“At some point you have to draw a line in the sand — for me that time is now,” Lerer told me in an interview. “If candidates or officeholders can’t support something like comprehensive and enforceable background checks, then I wouldn’t think of giving them any money going forward.”

Lerer also said he would be intensifying his contributions to Democratic Senate candidates in the next few years — excluding any that don’t take a strong position on gun control. “We intend to get very active in Senatorial campaigns during the next cycle and the one after,” he said. Red state Dems up for reelection in 2014 include Mary Landrieu, Kay Hagan, Mark Begich, Mark Pryor, and Max Baucus.

The Arms Trade Treaty will regulate individual gun ownership all across the world. Each country will be obligated to “maintain a national control list that shall include [rifles and handguns]” and "to regulate brokering taking place under its jurisdiction for conventional arms.” In fact, the new background check rules approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee include just those rules -- a registration system and a record of all transfers of guns.

I can think of nothing more desirable than an American regime that uses a UN excuse (and especially UN troops) to enforce citizen disarmament. Nothing could be more calculated to unite American resistance and the entire scheme -- domestic and global tyranny and its practitioners -- would be swept away in a hail of targeted gunfire. Let the UN try to come to this country and attempt this and watch what happens:

"Two Belgian paratroopers who were photographed "roasting" a Somali boy over a flaming brazier are expected to be jailed for only a month and fined £200 after admitting the atrocity in a military court in Brussels yesterday." -- London Telegraph, 24 June 1997.

Bernardine Rae Dohrn . . . born January 12, 1942, is an Associate Professor of Law at Northwestern University School of Law and the immediate past Director of Northwestern's Children and Family Justice Center. Dohrn was a leader of the Weather Underground, a group that was responsible for the bombing of the United States Capitol, the Pentagon, and several police stations in New York. As a member of the Weather Underground, Dohrn read a "Declaration of a State of War" against the United States government, and was placed on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list, where she remained for three years. She is married to Bill Ayers, a co-founder of the Weather Underground, who was formerly a tenured professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.In a speech during the December 1969 "War Council" meeting organized by the Weathermen, attended by about 400 people in Flint, Michigan, Dohrn said, "Dig it. First they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them, then they even shoved a fork into the pig Tate's stomach! Wild!" In greeting each other, delegates to the war council often spread their fingers to signify the fork. -- Wikipedia.

"Without the struggles of the 60s ... there would be no President Obama." -- Bernardine Dohrn.

This link came to me from a regular reader and supporter of Sipsey Street with the following comment: "Joe McCarthy was right. Hollywood REALLY IS full of communists & radicals. Bill Ayers must be laughing his bomb-building head off."

“Actor-director Robert Redford used his opening address at the Sundance film festival last night to add to the pressure on Hollywood to rein in its depiction of gun violence in the wake of the Newtown school massacre,” the London Guardian reported in January.

The Guardian failed to mention that Redford’s next film, due out in American theaters early next month, is a homage to Bill Ayers and the Weather Underground. When it played the Venice Film Festival in September, Time magazine gave it a boffo review . . .

Tinseltown cheerleaders can't stop gushing about Redford's paean to gun-toting progressives, of course. Variety called the flick an "unabashedly heartfelt but competent tribute to 1960s idealism." The entertainment daily effused: "There is something undeniably compelling, perhaps even romantic, about America's '60s radicals and the compromises they did or didn't make." One of the film executives promoting the Weather Underground movie slavered: "This is an edge-of-your-seat thriller about real Americans who stood for their beliefs, thinking they were patriots and defending their country's ideals against their government."

Of course this isn't the first apologia to communist operations in the United States involving Redford. Anybody else remember the The Way We Were starring Redford and Barbra Streisand? A more truthful and fitting drama would be one based on Whittaker Chambers' book Witness. Not that Hollywood would ever attempt THAT.

Any man who seeks to deny essential liberty to another without cause is an evil son of a bitch. He cannot be a “Good Man”. It is irrelevant if his family likes him or if he is kind to animals, sends his mother in-law flowers or makes the trains run on time. It is irrelevant if you served with him or if he has done brave things in the past. No amount of desire to “protect” or to “secure” or “prevent” will improve him. Declarations of his desire to apply “common sense” and be “reasonable” cannot redeem him. His desire to deny essential liberty to one, based on the actions of others, reveals the monster that abides in the soul of that man. If he seeks this, stating that the loss of liberty is necessary for the health of the society, he is the philosophical twin of every tyrant and mass murdering butcher in history. If American society is to survive, the decent, honest citizens must band together to drive these evil people from our society. They must suppress their innate "live and let live" philosophy and face the unpleasant fact that the man who seeks to deny an individual or a society those essential liberties is a potential killer whose bloody solutions will be incrementally revealed as he gains power. -- Bob Wright, email to Mike Vanderboegh, 28 March 2013

Thousands of armed vigilantes have taken over a town in Mexico and arrested police officers after their 'commander' was killed and dumped in the street.

The self described 'community police' and arrested 12 officers and the town's former director of public security, who they accuse of taking part in the killing of Guadalupe Quinones Carbajal, 28, on behalf of a local organised crime group.

The 1,500-strong force has also set up improvised checkpoints on the major road running through Tierra Colorado, which connects the capital Mexico City to Acapulco, a coastal city popular with tourists less than 40 miles away. . .

The arrested former security official and police officers have been handed over to state prosecutors, who agreed to investigate their alleged links to organised crime.

Many of the vigilantes are carrying high-powered assault rifles, which may have been seized from the former security director's car.

Using what they have, which is better than nothing. Mexican self-defense militiamen with .22 LR caliber "assault rifles."

House Bill 2199, The Second Amendment Protection Act of 2913 is almost a done deal in the Great State of Kansas. It passed the House with a vote of 94 to 29 opposed. This Act will first nullify 2nd amendment attacks from federal government ...and contains a section (9) ...which prohibits physicians, except psychiatrists from inquiring about the presence of firearms in a patient's home or property as a part of the process of obtaining the patient's medical history. Much cooler, it will allow SBRs, SBSs, suppressor manufactured and kept in Kansas to not have to go through the NFA process.

“There is no good answer for this,” said Kevin Jamison, a Gladstone lawyer and spokesman for the Western Missouri Shooters Alliance. “Panic buying seems to account for some of the shortage, but I don’t believe it can be all of it.”

Some point to concerns that the government might limit ammo purchases in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. Others blame the Department of Homeland Security, which has a big purchase in the works.

The rush to buy isn’t rational, said Larry Swickard, a member of the Western Missouri alliance.

I disagree. I was taught in Economics One-Oh-One by Professor William Jennings Bryan, Jr. (son of a Lebanese Christian refugee who changed his name to the one American politician he revered above all others) that except in cases involving sex and love, ALL ECONOMIC TRANSACTIONS ARE RATIONAL. All you have to understand, he said, was the rationality behind the transaction. It is that rationality that is keeping the analysts in the bowels of the three-letter agencies up at nights, including those at the CIA. Or so I'm told.

“We are sold out for 2013,” said David Shaw, marketing director for Fiocchi, an international ammunition manufacturer with a plant in Ozark, Mo.

Fiocchi added an extra shift to increase production, but Shaw said the plant can’t get in front of the demand.

This isn’t the first time Shaw has seen a spike in demand.

“But it has never happened to this degree,” he said. “Industrywide, we are not able to keep up.”

As the representative of one pro-gun control organization told this reporter last week, “Guns without bullets are no deadlier than baseball bats.” The UN plans to eventually rid the world of privately owned weapons; failing to do that, however, they will prevent the purchase (or reloading) of ammunition.

And folks wonder why the shelves at WalMart are empty within minutes of restocking,

He’s also trying to walk a tightrope by embracing policies that appeal to the GOP base — like repealing Obamacare —but also touting his efforts to cut bipartisan deals that could appeal to middle-of-the-road voters.

McConnell said he’s considering backing a gun control bill being quietly drafted by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) that would serve as a Republican alternative during next month’s floor debate on Democratic legislation that would expand background checks on firearm purchasers. But he said he’d oppose a more sweeping gun-control measure proposed by Reid.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Supporters of the 380 sheriffs in 15 states who so far have vowed to defy new state and federal gun control laws claim that legislation is starting to pop up around the nation to fire any state elected or appointed law enforcement official who doesn't obey federal orders.

The first effort emerged in Texas. Legislation proposed by Dallas Democratic Rep. Yvonne Davis would remove any sheriff or law enforcement officer who refuses to enforce state or federal laws.

What's more, it would remove any elected or appointed law enforcement officer for simply stating or signing any document stating that they will not obey federal orders.

A gun lobbyist told Secrets, "Beware because once something like this is introduced in one state, it will be followed very quickly in several other states."

“Senate Dems have made it known, ‘Sheriffs, obey or no pay for you,’” said Maketa, one of some 30 state sheriffs who attended public hearings on the gun bills to voice opposition. “The first word that comes to my mind is extortion.”

The criticisms of recordkeeping -- unduly burdensome, a step down the slippery slope to gun registry -- are specious and paranoid. That's infuriating but irrelevant. Background checks with recordkeeping won't get the 60 votes necessary to pass the Senate. Background checks without recordkeeping will.

I'm reliably told that despite its continuing fulminating, the NRA may not actively oppose expanded checks without recordkeeping. Such a measure would be a huge, if imperfect, achievement -- a possibility to be seized, not squandered.

In interviews, gun control advocates’ frustration with — and mystification over — Washington is palpable. So far, their anger has not turned specifically on Obama — though people in Newtown itself and gun control advocates beyond question whether he could have done more to turn the post-Sandy Hook momentum into tangible results.

But the increasingly sour mood of gun control proponents highlights the stakes in reaping even a slim victory from Congress this spring.

Anything less, in terms of Obama’s legacy, would transform Newtown from a moment of moral clarity to a symbol of how much clout a newly reelected president really has in a divided Washington.

Obama may still get a bill, but not like the one he and his allies envisioned in December. There won’t be new bans on assault weapons or high-capacity ammunition magazines. Universal background checks have moved from an assumed yes to a wish list item for gun control advocates. Even a new gun trafficking law — the smallest and weakest of the issues — is not a sure thing to pass the Senate. . .

The fate of Obama’s gun control rests on the slim hope that third-party groups can persuade wary lawmakers to support background checks during the two-week congressional recess. Bloomberg is spending $12 million to push background checks, though he conceded on “Meet the Press” that his push is as much about the 2014 midterm elections as it is winning a background checks vote in April.

Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), leader of the House Democrats’ gun control task force, said passing background checks will require mobilizing existing, but often apathetic, support.

“What we need is more grass-roots efforts by the people that read and listen to news reports, people who want to make sure their neighborhoods are safe,” Thompson said. “There’s great support for passing background checks; we just need to ramp up the enthusiasm for people to go one step forward.”

And Bloomberg will continue to use his billions to push gun control candidates in 2014.

Five months ago, the Nevada Republican held a key campaign rally at a Las Vegas gun shop to bolster his Second Amendment chops. Now he’s leaning toward support for universal background checks despite objections from the National Rifle Association.

A Florida Atlantic University student who filed a complaint against his professor after he was ordered to stomp on the name of Jesus has been brought up on academic charges by the school and may no longer attend class, according to documents obtained by Fox News.

The “Notice of Charges” against Ryan Rotela is contrary to a statement the university released late Friday night saying no one had been disciplined as a result of the classroom activity. . .

Rotela, a devout Mormon, ran afoul of the university after he refused to participate in a classroom assignment that involved writing the name “Jesus” on a piece of paper – and then stomping on it.

The university initially defended the Christ-bashing lesson which is included textbook titled, “Intercultural Communication: A Contextual Approach, 5th Edition.”

Fox News obtained a synopsis of the lesson taught by Deandre Poole, who also happens to be vice chair of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party.

“Have the students write the name JESUS in big letters on a piece of paper,” the lesson reads. “Ask the students to stand up and put the paper on the floor in front of them with the name facing up. Ask the students to think about it for a moment. After a brief period of silence instruct them to step on the paper. Most will hesitate. Ask why they can’t step on the paper. Discuss the importance of symbols in culture.”

There will be multiple measures on offer in the Senate that could be called an expansion of background checks. One version backed by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., would require background checks on every gun purchase, even between individuals, and create a federal registry to track the purchases.

This bill looks unlikely to pass the Senate, let alone the Republican House. It might do better in the Senate than the gun ban, but not much. Not only would the legislation not have done anything to have prevented the shooting that spurred the current gun control push, the massacre in Newtown, Conn., or other recent mass shootings, but it sets off concerns about the registry being the basis for further future restrictions.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has emerged as a key player if Senate Democrats are to have any chance of passing legislation to expand background checks for private sales of firearms.

McCain and Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.) are at the top of a list of Republicans considered most likely to sign on to legislation expanding background checks after talks with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) stalled earlier this month.

"Mike Weddle, head of maintenance at Dynamic Research Technologies, an ammunition manufacturer in Albany, Mo., says he is adding 10 new hires to his staff of 35. DRT’s machine operators make between $10 and $17 an hour—a healthy paycheck in a region where it’s tough to find a job and the cost of living is relatively low.

DRT currently cranks out 80,000 bullets per shift and operates two shifts per day. But that’s not enough to meet demand. So Weddle is adding a third manufacturing shift and building an additional facility.

“Demand picked up a year ago—it quadrupled,” he said. “It just went crazy.” He says .223 caliber ammo, which is for semiautomatic rifles, is particularly difficult to keep in stock."

Received this comment -- one of many recently -- about the Examiner columns of David Codrea and Kurt Hoffman that I post links to:

Once again I slipped up and clicked on the link before I realized that it was another EXAMINER web site. Codrea needs to get a PAYING JOB so we won't be hammered by ADVERTISING every time there is something to read. I don't mind the Subway sandwich ad but the video & audio and popups just get in the way. When a pop-up covers up what I am trying to read I just LOSE IT.

Oh, you POOR babies. As it happens David Codrea HAS a paying job, and it pays damn badly too. He is an Examiner columnist -- and not because he likes the Examiner system. I can say from all the trouble he and others have had with those anal sphincters who run it that I have picked up second-hand over the years that they screw their columnists and make it all but impossible to put out a good product over the objections of their internal censors. David could be making a good income in the private sector doing any number of jobs, so why does he (and others) put up with the bullshit and poor pay? He does it because that's the ONLY way to get the stories out. And what stories he has broken and sustained over the years when no one else would pick them up! Fast and Furious, of course, but what about the Reese's? Ask the Reeses if they think their story was worth a pop-up or two. I could go on and on.

And you poor babies, knowing that sharing an Examiner link is the only way to support such quality work, WON'T EVEN GO THERE BECAUSE YOU MIGHT ENCOUNTER A POP-UP. Oh, woe is you.

GET THIS STRAIGHT. I know about all the problems of the Examiner system for both the writers and the readers and if I put up a link it is because I believe it is important. You want to know why our side has been consistently pushed back in this fight? Because some of us are experts at finding excuses to do nothing. even down to the painless task of sharing a link to support important advocates like Codrea and Hofmann.

Though they don’t use the word “filibuster” in the letter, the conservatives are leaving no doubt that they would filibuster on an initial procedural question — the motion to proceed.

Lee staged a test vote on the issue during consideration of the Senate budget last week. He tried to amend a point of order against gun control legislation to the budget but fell short. It needed a three-fifths supermajority and failed 50-49, needing 60 votes to pass. But the final tally emboldened Lee, Paul and Cruz because they were so close to a majority and a filibuster takes just 41 votes to sustain.

The problem we have had in almost all Western countries is that nominally they say they are decentralizing, but effectively they’ve [given] more and more power to the central government. You want decisions to be spread out. Government debt is a result of centralization, and typically the cause of more centralization. It’s a very bad circle.

Serbu Firearms, a manufacturer of bolt-action and semi-automatic .50 caliber sniper rifles, is refusing to sell their wares to the NYPD. Their reason, of course, is that owing to unfair gun laws, they will not support law enforcement in New York.

Serbu is one of almost 150 companies that has officially refused to sell to law enforcement in New York following the passage of the SAFE Act, the controversial gun control package that has been met with scorn by gun owners across the nation.

The company posted the NYPD’s inquiry as well as their refusal to their Facebook page, with names omitted. . .

What’s interesting about this is that while Serbu makes a fine firearm and impressive .50 BMG rifles, they’re not a first-tier company in the sniper rifle world and are perhaps best known for their compact Super-Shorty shotguns.

Two of the biggest names in sniper rifles, Barrett and ArmaLite, have already stated that they will not sell to the police departments of New York. If the NYPD is calling Serbu, we have to wonder how many other companies have told them to keep walking.

“The biggest surprise has been the defeatist attitude of many Republicans in Washington. A lot of Republicans felt beaten down, and that there was nothing they could do to stop the erosion of liberty in this country,” Cruz told The Dallas Morning News in an interview Sunday.

It's a good thing I insisted on taking her to the hospital. When we got there her blood pressure was 84 over 50 and they couldn't even hear it. It was amazing what a difference some IV fluids and meds made. Dehydration in an Addison's patient is no laughing matter. Anyway, we're back home now and trying to catch up on the sleep we lost in the last 24 hours. Thanks for all your prayers.

Rosey has apparently contracted a particularly virulent form of stomach flu and as she has preexisting Addison's disease, she is very endangered by dehydration and an inability to take her meds. Up most of the night, we are now headed to the ER. Keep us in your prayers.

"Sales rose 52% in the fourth quarter, which translated to an 88% increase in earnings."

"Prices have surged as retailers cash in on the trend. But Ruger (RGR), which sells to wholesalers, does not have plans to hike prices, according to Fifer."

"Perhaps we have left some money on the table by not taking advantage of the demand," he said. Gun buyers have "long memories" and those retailers who are "gouging" consumers will ultimately pay the price, he said."

"Ruger will not be able to replenish its inventories until demand slows down, said Fifer. "We're basically selling everything we make," he said."

A short few years ago, I'd have never thought this could happen here. But liberal anti-gun money and influence is destroying us, and the aim is to do the same to the nation. Nobody is shocked when NY or CA passes more draconian gun laws, but to have it happen here is a major blow to RKBA.

Reloading .38s on a friend's turret press. You can see I've lost considerable weight since last year -- about 130 pounds all told -- and my clothes are rather too large for me. Still, I cranked off about 400 125 Grain JHPs for the stash. And at the moment, I don't even have a .38. Had to sell it last week. But my theory has always been Guns are easy. Logistics is hard.

"San Angeles will be the beacon of order with the purity of an ant colony and the beauty of a flawless pearl." — Dr. Raymond Cocteau explaining the Cocteau Plan.

Family resemblance? We report, you decide.

Reader Scott points out that there is an uncanny resemblance between firearm prohibitionist and nanny stater Mike Bloomberg and the evil PC dictator Dr. Cocteau of the 1993 Stallone movie, Demolition Man. He's got a point, don't you think?

“People are not going to say, ‘That’s a tough vote for them, let’s not do anything,’ ” said Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. “There is a feeling that to win this thing we need all the Democrats. That means people who are in tough races in 2014 don’t get passes. I would expect issue ads and advocacy for all senators.”

Friday, March 22, 2013

"Rep. Mike Thompson, Democrat of California, who is a Vietnam veteran and dedicated deer hunter, told us this morning in a meeting at the Times that he was shocked at how much the gun lobby is now dominated by people who think they need to own the same gun the police or the army has so they can protect themselves against tyranny — a grandiose fantasy."

Magpul met with a number of state legislators during the fight against HB 1224. While Magpul presented facts and legal opinions as well as stressing the economic repercussions of the bill, this didn't seem to make any headway with a number of the Democrats. Mr. Liptak noted that every time they went to the state capitol, they always ran into lobbyists from Bloomberg and MAIG. He said they were everywhere. It is a sad day when a New York billionaire can buy a western state legislature so easily. It reminds one of the railroad barons in Frank Norris' The Octopus so dominated California of the late 19th century.

Will somebody please remember to put Bloomberg at the head of the war crimes trial list? I don't expect to be around to see it, but he certainly is going to deserve it if he gets the civil war he's soliciting.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

The owner of Colorado's largest producer of ammunition magazines, Erie-based Magpul, already has plans to leave the state because of the bill's passing.

"Our moving efforts are underway. It's going to be a phased approach, and until the move is complete, we're going to continue manufacturing magazines in Colorado," said Doug Smith, Magpul's chief operating officer. "Within the next 30-days we will manufacture our first magazine outside the state of Colorado."

Smith noted that he will meet with economic developers from Nebraska, Texas and Wyoming in the coming weeks and the company is likely to have multiple locations in the future.

"This ordeal has taught us to be more diverse geographically," Smith said.

Magpul officials have said the move will cost hundreds of jobs and upward of $85 million in potential spending this year.

"Progress made under the shadow of the policeman's club is false progress."

I believe that liberty is the only genuinely valuable thing that men have invented, at least in the field of government, in a thousand years. I believe that it is better to be free than to be not free, even when the former is dangerous and the latter safe. I believe that the finest qualities of man can flourish only in free air – that progress made under the shadow of the policeman's club is false progress, and of no permanent value. I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave. -- H.L. Mencken

On the efficacy of passive resistance in the face of the collectivist beast. . .

Had the Japanese got as far as India, Gandhi's theories of "passive resistance" would have floated down the Ganges River with his bayoneted, beheaded carcass. -- Mike Vanderboegh.

In the future . . .

When the histories are written, “National Rifle Association” will be cross-referenced with “Judenrat.” -- Mike Vanderboegh to Sebastian at "Snowflakes in Hell"

"Smash the bloody mirror."

If you find yourself through the looking glass, where the verities of the world you knew and loved no longer apply, there is only one thing to do. Knock the Red Queen on her ass, turn around, and smash the bloody mirror. -- Mike Vanderboegh

From Kurt Hoffman over at Armed and Safe.

"I believe that being despised by the despicable is as good as being admired by the admirable."

From long experience myself, I can only say, "You betcha."

"Only cowards dare cringe."

The fears of man are many. He fears the shadow of death and the closed doors of the future. He is afraid for his friends and for his sons and of the specter of tomorrow. All his life's journey he walks in the lonely corridors of his controlled fears, if he is a man. For only fools will strut, and only cowards dare cringe. -- James Warner Bellah, "Spanish Man's Grave" in Reveille, Curtis Publishing, 1947.

"We fight an enemy that never sleeps."

"As our enemies work bit by bit to deconstruct, we must work bit by bit to REconstruct. Be mindful where we should be. Set goals. We fight an enemy that never sleeps. We must learn to sleep less." -- Mike H. at What McAuliffe Said

"The Fate of Unborn Millions. . ."

"The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their Houses, and Farms, are to be pillaged and destroyed, and they consigned to a State of Wretchedness from which no human efforts will probably deliver them. The fate of unborn Millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this army-Our cruel and unrelenting Enemy leaves us no choice but a brave resistance, or the most abject submission; that is all we can expect-We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die." -- George Washington to his troops before the Battle of Long Island.

"We will not go gently . . ."

This is no small thing, to restore a republic after it has fallen into corruption. I have studied history for years and I cannot recall it ever happening. It may be that our task is impossible. Yet, if we do not try then how will we know it can't be done? And if we do not try, it most certainly won't be done. The Founders' Republic, and the larger war for western civilization, will be lost.

But I tell you this: We will not go gently into that bloody collectivist good night. Indeed, we will make with our defiance such a sound as ALL history from that day forward will be forced to note, even if they despise us in the writing of it.

And when we are gone, the scattered, free survivors hiding in the ruins of our once-great republic will sing of our deeds in forbidden songs, tending the flickering flame of individual liberty until it bursts forth again, as it must, generations later. We will live forever, like the Spartans at Thermopylae, in sacred memory.

-- Mike Vanderboegh, The Lessons of Mumbai:Death Cults, the "Socialism of Imbeciles" and Refusing to Submit, 1 December 2008

"A common language of resistance . . ."

"Colonial rebellions throughout the modern world have been acts of shared political imagination. Unless unhappy people develop the capacity to trust other unhappy people, protest remains a local affair easily silenced by traditional authority. Usually, however, a moment arrives when large numbers of men and women realize for the first time that they enjoy the support of strangers, ordinary people much like themselves who happen to live in distant places and whom under normal circumstances they would never meet. It is an intoxicating discovery. A common language of resistance suddenly opens to those who are most vulnerable to painful retribution the possibility of creating a new community. As the conviction of solidarity grows, parochial issues and aspirations merge imperceptibly with a compelling national agenda which only a short time before may have been the dream of only a few. For many Americans colonists this moment occurred late in the spring of 1774." -- T.H. Breen, The Marketplace of Revolution: How Consumer Politics Shaped American Independence, Oxford University Press, 2004, p.1.